Almanac (Footy) Poetry: Ted’s legacy
Mr Football, Footscray’s finest,
E J Whitten, champion of the Big V,
figured early, smiling cheekily,
in Scanlens Football Cards.
Each year from 1964 to ’68,
school collectors prized the Ted card
be he in navy or banded blue,
red and white.
By 1969,
he was rum currency,
image uprightly poppable
from the die-cut surface.
Ted’s death marked the passing
of interstate footy.
Before pegging out, he scored
one final limo lap of the G.
The Herald Sun headlined simply:
E J DIES.
Ted’s clean cardboard image
mouldered in my briefcase until 2015
when, along with 300-odd mates from the old
twelve-team comp, Ted got traded
to a new age collector,
who knew value when he flicked it.
No complaints – I was well paid
and Ted no doubt
will go on paying his way.
But a thumbable subset
of my childhood now lies
out of bounds – on the full.
Bill Wootton
Image courtesy of Bill Wootton
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Thanks, Ian, for finding and furnishing the opening EJ image. It is actually from the 1963 series, very rare indeed, and a year before I started collecting. The Polly (Farmer) card in 1963 is rarest of all and ridiculously valuable.
Now that’s a six pointer!
Ya kicked a goal ,Billl.
My mum would have loved it.
Will send the link to Randle